I bike everywhere and notice the discarded waste everywhere. I think it's something we have to accept, much as I'd like (and do try) to change it. I've been finding a lot of beauty in some of it, and, lately, I've been emoting with it! I feel like a cast-out piece of trash sometimes. I feel spent and used at times. I also know my time, like the use of these items, is finite. And that my time in some peoples' lives ends before my time actually does, kind of like the residual trash of another act--once that iced coffee drink is done, the plastic to-go cup is not.

The work also takes further Duchamp's ready-made (I know--how trite! Bear with me!). Not only are these objects already made, they are already imbued with history--something essential to art. They have been altered from their original (be it hand or machine-made) by human and environmental interaction, and tell this story in their form, as well as by our understanding and associations with the item (for example, a Dutch Bros plastic cup).

Additionally, I am referencing Arte Povera from the 1960s and 70s, primarily in Italy.